An enlightening guide to bringing spirituality into the helping professions! This unique handbook will help you make the journey that will turn spirituality into the touchstone of your practice. For too long, spirituality has been a skeleton in the closet of many practitioners, but now there is a growing movement to integrate the vital beliefs of clients into the healing process. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions addresses the core values of the movement, providing you with a step-by-step process you can follow to increase empathy and healing while building on the foundation of spirituality. Each chapter includes penetrating reflection questions to help you better understand your own spiritual perspective and a list of suggested resources to help you learn more. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions investigates: the best tools for spiritual assessment how ethnic background influences spirituality the language of the sacred in daily life how people can develop greater empathy integrating spirituality into community the importance of ritual As author Dr. Charles J. Topper says: Spirituality is the integrating core element of human experience. Reading this book, both clients and care providers will learn to explore their own vibrant spirituality, a powerful innate source of strength and healing. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions aims to make spirituality more accessible to everyone. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions shows how you can take an active approach to integrating spirituality into your profession, helping the people around you see not just their problems but the connections between every facet of their lives. Complete with figures, assessment scales and surveys, and a thoughtful bibliography that points the way to further reading, this book is an important resource for professional growth and spiritual renewal.

An enlightening guide to bringing spirituality into the helping professions! This unique handbook will help you make the journey that will turn spirituality into the touchstone of your practice. For too long, spirituality has been a skeleton in the closet of many practitioners, but now there is a growing movement to integrate the vital beliefs of clients into the healing process. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions addresses the core values of the movement, providing you with a step-by-step process you can follow to increase empathy and healing while building on the foundation of spirituality. Each chapter includes penetrating reflection questions to help you better understand your own spiritual perspective and a list of suggested resources to help you learn more. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions investigates: the best tools for spiritual assessment how ethnic background influences spirituality the language of the sacred in daily life how people can develop greater empathy integrating spirituality into community the importance of ritual As author Dr. Charles J. Topper says: "Spirituality is the integrating core element of human experience." Reading this book, both clients and care providers will learn to explore their own vibrant spirituality, a powerful innate source of strength and healing. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions aims to make spirituality more accessible to everyone. Spirituality in Pastoral Counseling and the Community Helping Professions shows how you can take an active approach to integrating spirituality into your profession, helping the people around you see not just their problems but the connections between every facet of their lives. Complete with figures, assessment scales and surveys, and a thoughtful bibliography that points the way to further reading, this book is an important resource for professional growth and spiritual renewal.

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Find out how communities can help people transcend their individual needs to live richer, fuller lives The Spirituality of Community Life is a deeply personal analysis of community life and its importance in helping people develop to their full potential. Dr. Ron McDonald, a pastoral counselor, examines the dynamics of community life from the perspective of the participant in a variety of settings, including the classroom, sports teams, church groups, recreational groups, and the workplace. This unique book presents alternatives to a culture that creates competition, separation, and insecurity, focusing instead on communities that encourage civility, understanding, compromise, and altruism. The Spirituality of Community Life analyzes the need for community life and the obstacles to it found in American culture, where money and power rule and people conform to stay out of trouble. The book presents insights into the importance and manner of building communities instead of efficient organizations that are fueled by crisis. Topics examined include growth and size as mistaken ideals, early Christian community life, the “What Would Jesus Do?” phenomenon, the spiritual disease caused by fighting enemies, the place of art and dance in community life, and leadership. The Spirituality of Community Life looks at a variety of communities, including: hikers on the Appalachian Trail a college track and country team a seminary course on the Gospel of Mark a church health center a traditional Quaker meeting an open education elementary school a championship basketball team an annual meeting of pastoral counselors and much more The Spirituality of Community Life also examines the deeply spiritual nature of community life, including insights into early Christian community history and how community life was crucial in the lives of our greatest spiritual leaders. The book is essential for anyone seeking to be the kind of leader who can build and nurture communities.

This book was the first to specifically address the impact of religion and spirituality on mental illness.

An in-depth look at who pastoral caregivers are, what they do, and how and why they do it